Avid shooters, e.g. a hunter, competition shooter, military, law enforcement officer, etc., rely on many different pieces of information in order to make accurate and precise shots. Some information is based upon environmental factors such as distance, minute of angle, elevation hold value, wind hold value, pressure, temperature or elevation. Some information is based upon the equipment being used, for example scope height, muzzle velocity, and/or the ballistic being used, for example bullet class, bullet speed, bullet's ballistic coefficient and bullet drag model, or a combination of these parameters, such as observed bullet drop. This information is commonly referred to in the shooting industry as data on personal equipment, data on previous engagements, or DOPE.
Due to the amount of different DOPE factors that can affect the precision and accuracy of a shot and the variability of the same, keeping track of such DOPE can be challenging for shooters. Some shooters use dope log books to enter the information themselves. Other shooters may use a number of pre-calculated DOPE charts from which a shooter can look up the information needed. Having such information readily available when a shooter is making a shot can also be challenging. In some situations, such as hunting, flipping through pages of a log or book can cause the target to become suspicious and flee. Therefore a need exists for holding such information in a readily accessible location.
To attempt to solve this problem, some shooters have begun cutting portions of their logs or books into a circular or disc shape and taping or gluing them to the inside of their optic covers. Many shooters use an optical device such as, but not limited to a scope, when shooting. In order to protect the lenses of the optical device from scratches, shooters will use covers. Some covers, called flip cap or flip open covers, fit on the end(s) of the optical device and have a cap that can be closed when the optical device is not in use or opened when the shooter intends on using the optical device. When the flip cap is open, the eyepiece of the optical device is available for use by the shooter with the cover's cap off to the side or above the optical device. Since the inside of the cover's cap is available for use and faces the shooter when the cover is open, the inside of the cap is a convenient place to hold a shooter's DOPE.
One company called Scope Dope states that it offers “a quick reference ballistic data disc designed to fit inside the cover of a ‘flip-open’ riflescope cap . . . made from heavy die cut vinyl.” Scope Dope also states that a shooter can then “pre-record critical data using the waterproof permanent pen onto the data disc.” The discs offered by Scope Dope can be attached to a cap by using glue or tape.